Noddy Holder has revealed the real inspiration behind Slade’s festive 1973 hit ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’.The song is arguably one of Slade’s biggest hits, becoming so famous that strangers regularly shout the iconic “IT’S CHRISTMAAAAAAS!” line back to Holder in the street. It still generates £500,000 in royalties every year, 50 years on from its release.However, Holder has now revealed he and bandmate Jim Lea were never intending to write a Christmas song, explaining that its first iteration was conceived in the band’s “hippy dippy psychedelic days” in 1967, when it was called ‘Buy Me A Rocking Chair’, and was later discarded.Their label later pushed them to release a Christmas song, prompting them to revive the track and use its melody for ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’.
